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Friday, February 21, 2014

Revelation on Elevation

Another news
story was launched on Elevation Church and
this time it is about Spontaneous Baptisms. The NBC affiliate in Charlotte, WCNC, has been doing some investigating reports
on the church. Some say it is a witch hunt while others point to the history of PTL as valid reasons
why this reporting is important. One of the main campuses of the church
is only a few miles from my church. I have friends who attend the church
and I am finding that these stories are talked about in almost all of my social
circles, personal and professional. Recently there was a blog post that
came out showing a coloring page given to children and it has added additional
fuel to the fire.

Some of my Facebook friends have
asked my opinion on the matter and I told them I would respond. Now that I have
drawn a line in the sand I feel I need to say something but I have been
wrestling with how and what to actually say.

I wrote one draft of a post but
then after reading another clergy's thoughts on what is happening I realized
what I need to say. So here it goes...

I am an Ordained Elder of the
United Methodist Church and have grown up in the UMC all my life. I love
our theology, structure and holding down the extreme center socially and
theologically. I went to a Presbyterian college and received reformed
theological training and theology but I became more United Methodist the longer
I was there. I am not Southern Baptist and have never been. I have
only attended a few Southern Baptist churches and have limited experience with
SB pastors. Although, my daughter does go to a Southern Baptist Preschool
and I have family who are Baptist.

I say this because the Southern
Baptist theology and polity are not things I am all too familiar with. I
know a little but not enough to make myself an expert. I know we don't
agree theologically on many things. I know I have had some recovering
baptists in my congregations over the years and I know others who are
recovering methodists in baptist congregations.

I celebrate our differences
because we all look at the world differently. We need different
theologies so that we can speak to as many people as possible and work together
to bring forth the Kingdom of God. We can agree to disagree on our views
of baptism, church structure and other points of theology. It is okay!

Elevation Church is a Southern
Baptist Church although you will not find that anywhere on their site or
campuses. I know that Pastor Steven is doing some wonderful things over
there. How could he not to be only 34 and have a congregation in two
cities and growing it to over 14,000 people? I hear the music is
incredible and the production put into each worship service is amazing,
although I have not ever been to a worship service there.

When some of the other news
reports came out I asked some of my Elevation friends their thoughts. I
did this because how Elevation is run and organized is vastly different than my
denomination and experience. I was curious what others thought, not in a
judgmental way but in a "I want to learn more about this" way.

With all this said, here is my
$.02 on Elevation Church. It is different than my church in almost every
way. It is structured differently than my denomination and the church I
pastor. We hold different views when it comes to baptism and visioning.
I have listened to some of Pastor Steven's sermons via podcast and there
are some places where we agree theologically and others where we disagree,
although I can find that in about every minister, even within my own tradition.
Elevation ≠ Indian Trail United Methodist. Good? Bad? I
am not to judge, all I know is we are different.

Would I hold a Spontaneous Baptism service...no because
we have a different theology on baptism. Do I agree with the planting of
15 people to get up when Pastor Steven asks
people to come get baptized? To me that walks right up to that line we
shouldn't cross in worship and resembles a little bit of Jonas Nightingale to
me. But once again that is because we see things differently. I
think the news report was a little unfair and reaching when it talks about
"mining for good stories." I think all pastors
and churches are looking for good stories to help share people's
experience at their church. I don't see anything unBiblical about
that, but since the church published
guidelines with those directions in it, it does make them a
easy target.

I finally realized where I
should look to form my opinion of Elevation Church...scripture. As it says in Acts 5:38-39, “So in the present case, I
tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or
this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God,
you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found
fighting against God!” I will not judge nor try to fight against God. I will
acknowledge our differences but we worship the same God and believe in the work
and salvation found in Jesus Christ. That is my opinion on
Elevation…if is of human origin, it will fail and if it is of God, it will
thrive.

I will pray
for their church, as I hope they would lift mine up as well, and I will
continue to do my part to build up the Kingdom of God in the community we
share.